He was born in
Olten, and studied science and history at the
University of Bern, then later took courses in
Oriental studies at
Munich University and the
Sorbonne. He was the son of
Josef Munzinger, member of the
Swiss Federal Council. In 1852 Munzinger arrived at
Cairo, where he spent a year improving his
Arabic. Entering a French mercantile house, he led a trading expedition to various parts of the Red Sea. Until 1855 he served as French consul at
Massawa, when he moved to
Keren where he spent the next six years exploring the lands of the
Bogos. In 1861 Munzinger joined
Theodor von Heuglin in an attempt to explore central Africa, but separated from him in November, proceeding along the
Gash and
Atbara to
Khartoum. There he succeeded von Heuglin as leader of the expedition, and travelled in 1862 to
Kordofan, but failed to reach
Darfur and
Wadai. After a short stay in Europe in 1863, Munzinger returned to the north and north-east borderlands of Ethiopia. In 1865 Munzinger managed the
British consulate along the border of
Ethiopia, but remained in
Massawa, after the
1868 British invasion of Ethiopia, where he became the
French consul. There, according to Augustus B. Wylde, he married a woman of
Hamasien and convinced one of the local warlords,
Wolde Mikael, to cede the province of Hamasien to France. Munzinger sailed to France, and by early 1870 had an expedition ready at
Toulon to sail to Massawa when the
Franco-Prussian War broke out, and French resources were diverted to this higher priority, whereupon he left the service of the French. In July of that year he was sent to
Aden, where he joined Captain S.B. Miles on an expedition into the interior of the southern Arabian peninsula. He then left the French and entered the service of the
Egyptian government of
Khedive Ismail, serving as governor of the Keren region and Massawa (modern-day
Eritrea). Once he reached his command, his first act was to place the Bogos once again under Egyptian rule and significantly develop the port of
Massawa. == Writings ==